Skip to main content

Install Q CLI on Windows Subsystem for Linux

by Craig Cooley

Introduction​

Amazon Q CLI is currently available for Linux and macOS, however there is not a native Windows version available. Microsoft offers 'Windows Subsystem for Linux' on Windows 11 plus Window Server 2022 and 2025 which can run the Linux distributions supports by Q CLI. (Ubuntu 22 and 24).

Below are the basic instructions for installing Q CLI on Windows which offers customers a way to use Amazon Q CLI and interact directly with the Windows OS.

Here are two Examples of Q CLI interaction with Windows OS from WSL:​

Q will initially detect that it's running on Linux and may not offer to run command directly on Windows. Simply tell Q that's it's running in WSL.

Example 1: Ask Q to check when Windows was last updated:​

User> When was my Windows operating system last updated?
Q > I can help you check when your Windows operating system was last updated, but I notice from the system context that you're
currently running on a Linux system.

If you want to check Windows update history on a different machine or if you have access to a Windows system, you can use these
methods:

Method 1: PowerShell command
powershell
Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object -First 10

Notice Q reports it's runing on Linux. In this case, simply tell Q CLI that it's running on WSL.

User> Q is running on WSL.  Please run Method 1 on this system.
Q> I'll run the PowerShell command to check your Windows update history from WSL.

🛠️  Using tool: execute_bash
 ⋮
 ● I will run the following shell command:
powershell.exe "Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object -First 10"
 ⋮
 ↳ Purpose: Check Windows update history using PowerShell from WSL

Q> Your Windows operating system was last updated on September 13, 2025. The most recent updates installed were:

• KB5064531 (Update)
• KB5065426 (Security Update)
• KB5064401 (Update)

From WSL, any command that ends in .exe, executes in Windows, so Q can run PowerShell commands from bash using the syntax powershell.exe "Get-HotFix"

Example 2: Check Windows Event Log:​

User> how do I query windows system event log for event ID 6009

Q> You can query the Windows System Event Log for event ID 6009 from WSL using PowerShell. Here are several approaches:
## Using Get-WinEvent (recommended)
bash
powershell.exe -Command "Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='System'; ID=6009}"

 ● I will run the following shell command:
powershell.exe -Command "Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='System'; ID=6009}"
 ⋮
 ↳ Purpose: Query Windows System Event Log for event ID 6009 using PowerShell Get-WinEvent
Allow this action? Use 't' to trust (always allow) this tool for the session. [y/n/t]:
> y
   ProviderName: EventLog

TimeCreated                      Id LevelDisplayName Message
-----------                      -- ---------------- -------
8/7/2025 9:41:26 AM            6009 Information      Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 10.00. 22631  Multiprocessor Free.
8/6/2025 12:13:42 PM           6009 Information      Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 10.00. 22631  Multiprocessor Free.
8/5/2025 8:07:40 AM            6009 Information      Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 10.00. 22631  Multiprocessor Free.

Steps to install Q CLI on Windows:​

Q CLI - Supported environments:

  • Amazon Q CLI integrates with Windows using Windows Subsystem for Linux both WSLv1 and WSLv2
  • Platform requirements: Amazon Q for command line for Linux supports Ubuntu 22 and 24.
  • Architecture: x86_64 or aarch64
  • Note: Desktop functionality is not available on for Amazon Q running on WSL.

Install Windows Subsystem for Linux:

Install Q CLI in WSL:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf "https://desktop-release.q.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/latest/q-x86_64-linux.zip" -o "q.zip"
unzip q.zip
./q/install.sh
  • You can answer 'n' when asked to modify the shell config.
  • Specify a Builder ID or IAM Identity Center ID to login.

After Q is installed and activated, you can run qchat to start interacting with Q CLI.

cc@WS-2:~$ qchat

    ⢠⣶⣶⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣤⣶⣿⣿⣿⣶⣦⡀⠀
 ⠀⠀⠀⣾⡿⢻⣿⡆⠀⠀⠀⢀⣄⡄⢀⣠⣤⣤⡀⢀⣠⣤⣤⡀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣤⣤⣤⣄⠀⠀⢀⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⡀⠀⠀⣀⣤⣤⣤⣀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣤⡀⣀⣤⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣿⣿⠋⠀⠀⠀⠙⣿⣿⡆
 ⠀⠀⣼⣿⠇⠀⣿⣿⡄⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⠛⠉⠻⣿⣿⠛⠉⠛⣿⣿⠀⠀⠘⠛⠉⠉⠻⣿⣧⠀⠈⠛⠛⠛⣻⣿⡿⠀⢀⣾⣿⠛⠉⠻⣿⣷⡀⠀⢸⣿⡟⠛⠉⢻⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣼⣿⡏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿
 ⠀⢰⣿⣿⣤⣤⣼⣿⣷⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⢀⣴⣶⣶⣶⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⣠⣾⡿⠋⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⡇⠀⢸⣿⡇⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢹⣿⣇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⡿
 ⢀⣿⣿⠋⠉⠉⠉⢻⣿⣇⠀⢸⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⣿⣿⡀⠀⣠⣿⣿⠀⢀⣴⣿⣋⣀⣀⣀⡀⠘⣿⣿⣄⣀⣠⣿⣿⠃⠀⢸⣿⡇⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢿⣿⣦⣀⣀⣀⣴⣿⡿⠃
 ⠚⠛⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⠛⠛⠀⠘⠛⠛⠀⠀⠀⠛⠛⠀⠀⠀⠛⠛⠀⠀⠙⠻⠿⠟⠋⠛⠛⠀⠘⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠃⠀⠈⠛⠿⠿⠿⠛⠁⠀⠀⠘⠛⠃⠀⠀⠘⠛⠛⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠛⠿⢿⣿⣿⣋⠀⠀
 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠛⠿⢿⡧

╭─────────────────────────────── Did you know? ────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│      /usage shows you a visual breakdown of your current context window      │
│                                    usage                                     │
│                                                                              │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

/help all commands  •  ctrl + j new lines  •  ctrl + s fuzzy search
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🤖 You are chatting with claude-sonnet-4